Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1887-03-26
LEPRoSY IN SAN FRANCISCO.
Jhrce brothers who Are Victims OF
the Dread Disease-Medical Treat
ment UnavaiIing-A Living
nPnth.

dreaded of all diseases, leprosy. One
of these is James Seguye, a colored
Iuan, native of st. Augustine, Fla,
who has been in the hospital since
March 8. 1880 There is some doubt
about his case. When he went to the
hospital the skin was coming of his
hands, arms, aud body i'll scales. which
resembled wheat bran. but after n
course of treatment the sealing Off
ceased; the disease has made no appar-
cnt progress since. As leprosy proper
has never been known TO be affected by
Treatment, but pursues its march slow
~, yet relentlesSly, the physicians in
cline to the opinion that Seguye's dis
ease is something else. possibly of sy-
philitic nature. However. as he is will
ing TO remain and as the disease is un-
defined. he is still in the hospital. He
washes the clothes of himself and the
three other patients, and calls himself
the laundryman of the institution, de-
claring that he is not an invalid.
The other three pat ents are three
brothers Frank. Edward and Ernest
Bindt-who have been in the hospital
but short time and whose cases are
Interesting for several reasons. Their
father is white man and their mother
anatiye of the Hawaiian islands. Bindt
is at present emplosed in the Spreckels
To- VII p
sons. The boys. who were born in the
Sandwich islands, would be taken for
1ull-blooded Americans. The family re-
sided in the islands when the mother
was discovered to be afflicted with
symptoms of the disease. Bindt eX-
pended large sums of money in Doctor
ing, as the drowning man grasps at the
straw. but in vain. The disease is so
common and so generally understood
in the islands at it could not long 90
undetected, and the family came to San
Francisco. Here Mrs. Bindt made
further efforts TO combat the scourge,
hoping against hope that it might be
something else than leprosy. but about
three years ago DR.. Meares told her she
had the disease beyond doubt, and
she had to choose between isolation
here and return to Honolulu. She
chose the latter, and is now an inmate of
the lepor colony at Molokai.
The disease showed itself sooner in
the second n age of the two boys than
in the Others, and on May II last Ed
ward, aged It, was admitted TO the
hospital He has a large patch of the
peculiar Enthusiastically looking flesh
under his left eye. On Aug. Is last his
two brothers-Frank, aged II, and
Ernest. IA years old-were admitted to
the hospital suffering from leprosy, and
there the three are and must rema n in
living tomb. dead to the world and
the world dead to them. decaying away
with persevering and remorseless dry
rot; finger joints, toes. and other
members drop ng of one By one until
the end comes. With no hopes. aims,
nor ambitions, with few pleasures, and
the shadow of Their certain doom over
shadowing those few, they NAV be said
to exist instead of living.
Yet they are in measure cheerful.
They read the daily papers, and when
visited yesterday by reporter. were
gathered around fire with a checker
board and several story books for re-
creation. Jerry Sullivan, the steward,
says they have no lack of reading
matter, and on pleasant days they take
exercise in the hospital grounds. four
or five acres in extent playing various
games, but sometimes" he says,
they are blue and gloomy" at which
the reporter did not marvel when he
remembered that those four white
washed walls are the boundary of their
world.
Frank and Ernest, the eldest and
youngest of the three and last to enter
the hospital, are more affected than Ell
ward, with whom the disease appears
to be progressing more slowly. The
fingers of the three are bent and twist
ed into various contortions, while the
ends of many and the joints of some arc
becoming contracted. White spots of
dead flesh appear on their bodies and
thighs. and into these spots a pin can
be run without the knowledge of the pa
tents The spots are completely numb
by and by pieces of flesh will fall of.
There is no sloughng, no formation -
pus. no pain-nothing but a dead, dry
rot The joint of finger becomes con-
tracted as though it had been compress
ed by having cord tightly around it.
The end of the finger becomes numb.
and finally it drops of, without pain,
soreness or bleeding. A new skin forms
over the stump. Other fingers and toes
drop oil; then other joints from those
which have already been shortened.
he white spots on the body swell into
projecting blister-like Jumps, and those,
too. in time drop of. 1t is silent,
painless. but long-drawn-out death.
The only sensation of pain the boys de.
clare that they ever felt in connection
with the disease is an occasional sting
like the prick of needle, but this is not
very keen nor of very long duration.
The four lepers eat in a room by